


Reprieve

by JasnNCarly



Category: General Hospital
Genre: F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-31
Updated: 2009-10-31
Packaged: 2020-05-19 05:28:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19350430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasnNCarly/pseuds/JasnNCarly
Summary: Claudia’s dead…or is she?





	Reprieve

Her eyes flew open, the bright light blinding her as she did so.  
  
 _There’s no way you made it into heaven so hell must look different than the brochure described._  
  
Swallowing a thick lump in her throat, she remained completely still and tried to assess her situation.   
  
“Don’t worry, Claudia, you’re not dead.”   
  
The moment his voice hit the air; her eyes shut tightly – almost wishing she had died just to avoid his ramblings of ‘I told you so.’  
  
“At least not yet.”   
  
Unable to will herself back into a deep, ignorant slumber, she slowly drug herself to a slumped seat. The instant she had, the stab in her chest was undeniable.  
  
“Careful,” He was immediately at her side, assisting her to a comfortable seat in the king size bed, “Careful, you did get shot you know.”  
  
Stiffening at the pain and at his touch, she burned him with her dark glare and sent his hands up in surrender. Claudia’s eyes surveyed the clean, warm room around her – instinctively checking for bars and chains, only to find something closer to bed and breakfast setting. Skeptical, flashing to multiple guns set upon her, she tried to find an answer as to what left her setting beside a man she thought she would never seen again. After a moment, to impatient to guess, she thought aloud, “Where the hell am I, Ric?”  
  
“Look, you’re not dead, and you’re safe. I think your first words should come pretty close to thank you, don’t you?”  
  
“And I know you’re not keeping me locked up, ready to be tortured, for Sonny, how?”  
  
Ric had to laugh at this, standing to his feet and walking over to the dresser. Casually preparing a cup of hot tea, he carried on their conversation with ease, “Besides the fact that I can’t stand my brother, would love to see him with a bullet, I can say I’ve been in your shoes.”  
  
Claudia watched carefully, her eyes scanning for anything poisonous as he moved about. How she had got from the Metro court to here was a mystery, and if there was one thing she hated.  
  
“I know what it’s like to make a mistake, getting back at Sonny, only to have it blow up in your face and lead to your persecution.” Returning to her bedside, cautiously sitting beside her, he extended the cup, “I, too, have been a grand enemy of Port Charles.”  
  
Claudia refused the cup, crossing her arms with a slight wince, “Go on.”  
  
Rolling his eyes, Ric gave her a cheers motion before sipping the cup, “My brother is predictable when he’s mad. While I didn’t know he’d showboat at your birthday – classic might I add – I had a feeling he’d blow a gasket when finding out what you did.”  
  
“And you? You’re not pissed about what I did to Michael?”  
  
Shrugging his shoulders, his eyes met hers with sincerity and sympathy, “I understand what it’s like to have reasons that nobody understands. The road to hell…well you know.”  
  
Claudia studied him, slightly comforted by his calm. Extending her hand, she waited in silence until Ric had stopped drinking from the cup and handed her what was left. She could feel his eyes on hers as she finished it off, her throat thanking her for the rescue as she did so.  
  
“I don’t know what you’re going to do with the information but—“  
  
“Carly? The baby?”  
  
“In the hospital, no word yet on Carly, baby is fine.”  
  
 _How many strikes is that now?_  Claudia thought, returning the cup to him, and rested her hand against her chest, too scared to check the wound she felt, “What else?”  
  
“You shot Sonny, but—he’s going to pull through…unfortunately. And, uh, Johnny…”  
  
Her eyes flooded with fearful tears, “What?”  
  
“He thinks you’re dead, Claudia. The best thing you can do is keep it that way.”  
  
“But I have to get to him. I have to—“  
  
“Don’t make me regret what I did, all right? Stay the hell outta Port Charles.”  
  
Claudia waited, trying to imagine what her brother was going through and process her present situation. Inhaling a breath as deep as her body would allow, she questioned him bitterly, “What did you do?”  
  
“You’re dead.” Ric caught one of her tears with the caress of his thumb, pleasantly surprised she was not entirely defeated, “No one in Port Charles knows any different, not even that pain in the ass Morgan.”  
  
“What do you want? Money, I have nothing you can blackmail for.”  
  
Shaking his head, Ric stood to his feet and tried to control his anger. He had risked everything, knowing what it would take from him and how it could ruin him again should it be revealed. Despite all of this, he smirked at her with a hint frustration and flirtation, “We’ll see about that.”


End file.
